Forum Center: A cure for apathy? By Sarah Sidlow Let’s make this clear: President Obama did not call for a constitutional amendment that would make voting mandatory. However, during a March appearance in Cleveland, Ohio, Obama did muse that mandatory voting was one strategy that could be useful in offsetting the power of political spending. […]

Forum Center: The highs, the sighs (and the lies?) By Sarah Sidlow Last week, President Barack Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address, in front of a congress fully controlled by Republicans for the first time in his presidency. His address, which ran just shy of an hour, called for a number of […]

Forum Center: Is PC passé? The DCP political correctness debate By Sarah Sidlow Illustration: Jed Helmers In a unanimous October vote, the Seattle, Washington, City Council voted to recognize Columbus Day, a federal holiday, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Seattle isn’t the first city to do so, having followed the lead of a similar April vote in […]

Debate Center: The eyes have it By Sarah Sidlow The country may still be recovering from the upheaval which came as a result of the recent Grand Jury decision not to indict Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of a teenager. The event has caused citizens, law enforcement officials and even […]

Debate Center: Ivan-ho! (or, another government bailout?) By Sarah Sidlow Illustration: Jed Helmers The 3,500 acre Ivanpah solar electric generating plant, which is the largest solar plant in the world, is allegedly in financial straits. Owned by Google and renewable energy behemoth NRG, the plant, which is located in the Mojave Desert southwest of Las Vegas, […]

Debate Center: Blame the messenger? By Sarah Sidlow Illustration: Jed Helmers The Washington Supreme Court has elected to hear a case by three Seattle women who claim they were raped multiple times as teenagers and argue the classified service Backpage.com not only made it possible, but profited from it. The case began in 2012 in Pierce […]

Forum Center: So goes the nation By Sarah Sidlow Illustration: Jed Helmers With only hours to go before early voting was scheduled to begin in some counties in Ohio, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an emergency order effectively postponing it by a week. In short, this cut the early voting days in Ohio from 35 days […]

Forum Center: The president may be taking the fight to Islamic State By Alex Culpepper Islamic State is no longer the little brother of al-Qaeda. The Jihadist group has grown powerful as of late and is making some noise in Syria and Iraq. Since its separation from al-Qaeda, Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, […]

Forum Center: Obama and striking workers raise an issue about wages By Alex Culpepper Photo: Robots… I’m lovin’ it [Illustration by Jed Helmers] During the Labor Day weekend, President Obama was out speaking to crowds about Labor Day issues. Part of his speech was a rally for increased wages, especially the minimum wage. He also […]

Should prostitution arise from the underground? By Alex Culpepper Illustration: Mike Lester First and foremost, one must accept the definitional difference between human sex trafficking and consensual prostitution in for the purposes of this week’s debate. No person should be coerced into, or participate under duress, an act of prostitution. This week’s debate question is […]